Senior Associate / Principal

8090 is an early-stage investment firm focused on American reindustrialization across defense, energy, AI, and real assets. It has three deployed funds and recently secured a $600M first close for a new ~$1B growth fund with Hanwha. Its affiliation with Sierra Nevada Corporation gives it access to strategic relationships, deal flow, and potential commercial partnerships.

### Core hiring need

They need exceptional, defense-native talent with both:

• Deep credibility from active duty, DARPA, CIA, or comparable defense/government environments.
• Commercial/operator experience—e.g., Palantir, consulting, or an in-house role—so they can execute rather than require training.

They are deliberately avoiding high-volume recruiting and “B-tier” profiles. As a 12-person team, they care heavily about personality fit alongside ambition, energy, and competence.

### Roles in scope

• **Senior associate / principal:** Defense-background investor who can underwrite deals; investing experience is a major plus.
• **PM-level investor:** Approximately 15 years of experience, aligned with their flagship fund and reindustrialization thesis.
• **Special-project / EIR-style operator:** Works directly with Kerem on SNC-adjacent incubations, evaluates opportunities, helps launch companies, and could ultimately become a CEO, chairman, or board member—with potential equity upside.

### Their underlying gap

8090 has more opportunities than internal capacity: SNC relationships, Hanwha, international defense connections, ministerial discussions, potential JVs, and incubations. They need a flexible pool of defense-commercial leaders who can be deployed to evaluate and execute those opportunities.

### Investment-side angle

Cleo explicitly asked about our ability to place investment talent. I was clear that Arsenal Pulse has not done investment placements yet, though Kara and I did build investment teams and internal functions at Human Capital.